Bieger recovers from leg injury for big meet

Coconut Creek teenager ready for Visa Championships that start today

August 15, 2007|BY SHARON ROBB STAFF WRITER

Jana Bieger had her world turned upside down when she was training for her first big gymnastics meet of the 2007 season.

She was looking forward to competing in the Tyson American Cup in Jacksonville in March against some of the world's top gymnasts from China, Romania and Russia in front of family and friends who were driving up from South Florida.

The 2008 Olympic hopeful was training before the meet when she missed a landing on a tumbling pass during her floor exercise and injured her left leg. Fourteen days after the injury she underwent surgery for tissue and ligament damage.

Just weeks after the surgery, the Coconut Creek teenager was back in the gym. It was nothing the 17-year-old couldn't handle or would keep her from training for the most important meet of the year, the Visa Championships that begin today in San Jose, Calif.

Bieger, who finished third in all-around last year, competes Thursday and Saturday for U.S. titles and a berth on the world championship team. The top seven gymnasts qualify for the world team. The Sept. 1-9 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, are a qualifying event for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Bieger came back from a serious knee injury two years ago and dominated the world scene last year as the most decorated U.S. gymnast at the world championships with three silver medals.

It was that comeback that has motivated her to attempt to make her third world team. An added motivation is Bieger was born in Kiel, Germany, where her mother and coach, Andrea, was a three-time Olympic gymnast.

"This is my first big competition since worlds," Bieger said. "I went to [last month's] U.S. Classic as a tune-up just to see where I was.

"The injury was definitely a setback for me, like it is for anybody. I was in the gym the next day doing conditioning and bars. I wanted to come back as fast as possible.

"I am just excited to be back and performing my routines. It took a lot of work, but I am definitely where I want to be right now. I know I lost some time, but I still think I am in the thick of things."

At the confidence-building U.S. Classic last month, Bieger won the uneven bars with a score of 15.25 and was second on vault. She did not compete on floor and opted not to do her beam dismount for a score of 14.3.

"I am focusing on myself," Bieger said. "I am not thinking about medals or where I finish. I just want to have a good time and do good."

Women's national team coordinator Martha Karolyi seems to be pleased with Bieger's progress. Bieger is one of the U.S. national team's veterans with international experience.

"I think she made great progress coming back so quickly from the injury and her presentation at the U.S. Classic was a promising one," Karolyi said. "She wasn't completely ready, but I think she will be this week."

Bieger's mother, a specialist in sports medicine and physical therapy, played a key role in her daughter's rapid recovery just as she did after her knee injury. In 2005, Bieger was forced to take a 10-month break to heel after surgery for a dislocated right kneecap. She wasn't scheduled to return until late 2006 but came back months earlier.

"My mom helped me get through everything," Bieger said. "The mental and physical part. She got me through some of the things I was scared to do as far as landings and takeoffs."

Andrea Bieger went through one final two-hour practice session Tuesday with her daughter.

"She is in one piece and she is looking good," Andrea Bieger said. "Fourteen weeks after surgery and she is here. We have been protective up to eight months. Not to use this as an excuse or anything else, but we will do what we can do and see if she is able to do it."

It has also helped having her own gym to train in. Bieger International Gymnastics opened in Deerfield Beach earlier this year.

NBC Sports will televise the women's competition this weekend on tape-delayed basis during prime time.